LINE for Retail & E-commerce: A Practical Guide (2026)

#What LINE OA Does for a Shop

For a shop or online store, a LINE Official Account (LINE OA) does three jobs. It tells customers who chose to follow you about launches, restocks and sales; it keeps a permanent shop front under the chat, the rich menu; and it answers the same questions about shipping, payment and returns automatically. Broadcasts use your monthly message quota, while replies and chats are free.

One limit to know up front: LINE OA Manager doesn't know your orders. Order confirmations, shipping updates and abandoned-cart reminders have to come from your store system, through the Messaging API or a LINE connection offered by your e-commerce platform, and each of those push messages counts against the quota.

For designed promotion cards sent on a schedule, see our LINE broadcast tool; details are further down.

#Growing Your Friend List

A broadcast only reaches people who added you, so the friend list is the asset you are building. Where shops collect friends:

In store

• A QR code at the till, on shelf cards, on receipts and in fitting rooms.
• Staff mention it at payment, with a reason: a coupon, early access to sales, warranty registration.
• In Thailand, LINE OA Manager can create a coupon QR code that also adds your account as a friend when it is scanned (LINE Thailand help center).

Online

• An add-friend button on your website, product pages and order confirmation page.
• A card in every parcel: "Add us on LINE for restock alerts and size help".
• Your LINE link in Instagram, Facebook and TikTok bios, and in marketplace shop descriptions where the marketplace allows it.
• LINE's own friend-acquisition ads, if you have a budget.

Give people a reason. A welcome coupon in the greeting message (it can be one of up to 5 bubbles) rewards adding you straight away. Say how often you will message ("no more than twice a month") and keep the promise: a friend who blocks you never hears from you again.

#A Rich Menu That Works Like a Shop Front

The rich menu stays under the chat all the time, so give it the links people need every week. Large template, 6 areas, 2500 × 1686 px:

A physical shop can use the compact template (3 areas, 2500 × 843 px): Offers · Location & hours · Member card (reward card).

Tips:

• Link to pages that change, such as the sale page or the new-arrivals collection, instead of drawing products into the image. The menu then stays valid for months.
• Schedule a sale menu. Give your 11.11 menu its own display period. Periods can't overlap, so schedule the standard menu again from the day after.
• Know the actions. In LINE OA Manager, each area can open a link, send a text, open a coupon or open a reward card.

Every setup screen is in how to create a LINE rich menu.

#Launches, Restocks and Sales: Broadcasts That Pay Off

Broadcast when customers have a reason to care: new arrivals, best-sellers back in stock, payday, double-date sales (9.9, 10.10, 11.11, 12.12), seasonal gifts and last-chance reminders. One message, one offer, one button. LINE Thailand suggests 2–4 broadcasts a month for a shop that is just starting.

Formats that suit shops:

Layouts and image sizes are in the LINE rich message guide. To generate a card from a prompt, use the AI rich message maker.

What it costs. LINE counts recipients × sends, and friends who blocked you aren't counted. Thai plans as of October 2026, excluding 7% VAT (LINE for Business):

The last row is why targeting matters. Send restock news to the people who tapped your last restock message (a click retargeting audience) rather than to everyone. Demographic filters need a target reach of at least 100 friends, and an audience such as a click retargeting audience needs at least 50 people (LINE Thailand help center). Plans in Japan and Taiwan are compared in the LINE Official Account pricing guide.

Three broadcasts to adapt:

📦 Back in stock: the [linen shirt] in every size, S–XL
Quantities are limited in each size.
[Button: Shop now]

💸 Payday deal: 15% off everything, [25–27 October]
Use code [PAYDAY15] at checkout.
[Button: Shop the sale]

⏰ Last 6 hours of 11.11: free shipping ends at midnight
No minimum spend today.
[Button: Use free shipping]

Timing, frequency and every step of sending: LINE OA broadcast guide.

#Auto-Replies for Shipping, Payment and Returns

Most chat messages a shop receives are the same six questions. Answer them with keyword auto-replies, which are free, and leave the rest to staff.

Replies to adapt (replace the parts in square brackets):

🚚 We ship Mon–Sat; orders placed before 14:00 go out the same day. [Bangkok: 1–2 days] · [other provinces: 2–3 days] Shipping ฿[40], free over ฿[799].

💳 Pay by bank transfer or PromptPay to [account name, bank, number]. Send the slip here with your order number and we'll confirm within [1 hour] ([09:00–18:00]).

🔄 Exchanges within [7] days, unworn and with tags. Type "contact" with your order number and we'll send you the return address.

Things to know:

• Keywords must match exactly in LINE OA Manager, so register every variant and make rich menu buttons send the exact keyword.
• Order-specific answers need your order data. Without an integration, link your tracking page or let staff answer in chat. Automatic order and shipping updates need your store connected through the Messaging API, which is custom LINE API development; each update is a push message that counts against your quota.
• More wording ideas are in these LINE OA auto-reply examples.

#Selling and Loyalty With LINE's Own Tools

Built into LINE OA Manager in Thailand, Japan and Taiwan:

• Coupons: discounts, free items or free shipping. Attach them to the greeting message, a broadcast or a rich menu button.
• Reward cards: digital stamp or point cards (บัตรสะสมแต้ม in Thailand, ショップカード in Japan, 集點卡 in Taiwan). Customers collect points per purchase and unlock a reward.

In Thailand, LINE also offers these tools (as of October 2026):

In Japan and Taiwan, sell through your own online store and link it from the rich menu and your broadcasts. Membership tiers, member prices or points synced with your POS are custom work: a LIFF app or LINE MINI App connected to your systems (custom LINE app development).

#Measuring Results

Insight in LINE OA Manager already shows the numbers that matter:

• Broadcast statistics are collected for 14 days after sending, and numbers under 20 are hidden for privacy (LINE manual, in Japanese).
• Add UTM parameters to every link in broadcasts and the rich menu, for example ?utm_source=line&utm_medium=broadcast&utm_campaign=1111, to see LINE sales in your web analytics.
• For in-store sales, give LINE friends their own code ("LINE10") and count it at the till.

#How LineBot.pro Helps Shops

LineBot.pro speeds up the promotion side with AI. It works next to LINE OA Manager and your store, not instead of them.

• Campaigns. Describe the offer ("11.11 free shipping, last 6 hours, bold red and white, button to the sale page"). The AI writes the copy and draws the visual, an AI reviewer checks the image and redraws it if needed, and code builds a valid Flex card (1200 × 675 px image, headline, text and a button) for 8 credits; a failed generation is refunded. Then send it to all friends or to a pasted list of LINE user IDs, now or on a schedule. Sending costs 0 credits; LINE's quota still applies, and the page shows delivery status, follower count and your monthly quota. The campaign name becomes the notification text, so write it like a headline.
• AI rich message maker. The same cards for your developers or for other tools: download the PNG or JPEG and the JSON, or copy the JSON.
• Banners. Six sizes, including the LINE cover (1080 × 878 px) plus square and story formats for social media, for 8 credits each.
• AI rich menu. Your shop-front menu with 1–6 buttons that open links or send texts, for 10 credits; you upload it in LINE OA Manager.
• Keyword bot. Shipping, payment and returns answers sent as approved cards, matched anywhere in a sentence, with optional AI routing (1 credit per message checked) and a handoff that pauses the bot for one customer.

What it doesn't do: connect to your store or cart, send order, shipping or cart messages, tag or segment customers, import contacts, run drip sequences, create coupons or points, or report opens and clicks (use Insight in LINE OA Manager for that). Images are generated from your description, so you can't upload product photos.

New accounts get 50 free credits with no card, enough for 6 AI campaign cards. After that, buy one-time credit packs: no subscription, and credits don't expire. More for shops on the LINE OA for retail page, or create your first campaign.

#Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I sell directly inside LINE?

In Thailand, yes: MyShop is LINE's shop tool connected to your LINE OA, free to open, with a product catalog, chat orders with a payment link and payment fees from 3% (October 2026). In Japan and Taiwan, link your online store from the rich menu and your broadcasts, or have a shop built as a LINE MINI App.

Q: How much does a sale broadcast cost?

Nothing extra while you stay within your plan: LINE counts one message per recipient. In Thailand (October 2026, excluding VAT), 300 messages a month are free, Basic (฿1,280) includes 15,000 and Pro (฿1,780) 35,000. A shop with 1,500 friends that broadcasts weekly uses about 6,000 messages, so Basic is enough.

Q: Can LINE send order confirmations and shipping updates automatically?

Only if your store system sends them, through the Messaging API or a LINE connection from your e-commerce platform. Each one is a push message that counts against your quota. Neither LINE OA Manager nor LineBot.pro can see your orders.

Q: Can I run a points programme on LINE?

Yes. Reward cards are built into LINE OA Manager, and Thailand's MyCustomer | CRM adds membership, points and rewards for ฿369 a month + VAT (included in the Pro plan). Tiers or points synced with your POS need custom development.

Q: How often should a shop broadcast?

LINE Thailand suggests 2–4 times a month for a new account. Check blocks the day after each broadcast and send less of whatever triggers them. Sending to people who clicked before lets you message more often without tiring everyone else.

Next steps:

• Plan your sends with the LINE OA broadcast guide
• Design better cards with the LINE rich message guide
• Build a monthly plan with these LINE marketing automation strategies
• Make and schedule promotions with our LINE broadcast tool
• See everything LineBot.pro does for shops